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Dictionary of Phrase and Fable

E. Cobham Brewer From The Edition Of 1894

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E

This letter represents a window; in Hebrew it is called he (a window).

E.G.

or e.g. (Latin for exempli gratia). By way of example; for instance.

E Pluribus Unum

(Latin). One unity composed of many parts. The motto of the United States of America.

Eager

or eagre. Sharp, keen, acid; the French aigre. (Latin, crude form, acr— “acer,” sharp.)

“It doth posset

And curd, like eager droppings into milk.” Shakespeare: Hamlet, i. 5.

“Vex him with eager words.”

Shakespeare: Henry VI., ii. 4.

Eagle

(in royal banners). It was the ensign of the ancient kings of Babylon and Persia, of the Ptolemies and Seleucides. The Romans adopted it in conjunction with other devices, but Marius made it the ensign of the legion, and confined the other devices to the cohorts. The French under the Empire assumed the same device.

Eagle

(in Christian art) is emblematic of St. John the Evangelist, because, like the eagle, he looked on “the sun of glory”; the eagle was one of the four figures which made up the cherub (Ezek. i. 10).

Eagle

(in funerals). The Romans used to let an eagle fly from the funeral pile of a deceased emperor. Dryden alludes to this custom in his stanzas on Oliver Cromwell after his funeral, when he says, “Officious haste did let too soon the sacred eagle fly.”

Eagle

(in heraldry) signifies fortitude.

Eagle

(for lecterns in churches). The eagle is the natural enemy of the serpent. The two Testaments are the two outspread wings of the eagle.

Pliny in his Natural History (book x. chap. 3) enumerates six kinds of eagles: (1) Melænactos, (2) Pygargus, (3) Morphnos, which Homer (Iliad, xxiv. 316) calls perknos, (4) Percnopterus, (5) Gnesios, the royal eagle, and (6) Haliæetos, the osprey.

Eagle

(in phrases).

Thy youth is renewed like the eagle's (Ps. ciii. 5). This refers to the superstition feigned by poets that every ten years the eagle soars into the “fiery region,” and plunges thence into the sea, where, moulting its feathers, it acquires new life.

“She saw where he upstarted brave

Out of the well. ...

As eagle fresh out of the ocean wave,

Where he hath lefte his plumes all hory gray, And decks himself with fethers youthly gay.” Spenser: Faërie Queene, i. ll, 34.

Eagle

a public—house sign, is in honour of Queen Mary, whose badge it was. She put it on the dexter side of the shield, and the sun on the sinister — a conjugal compliment which gave great offence to her subjects.

The Golden Eagle and the Spread Eagle are commemorative of the crusades; they were the devices of the emperors of the East.

Eagle

The spread eagle. A device of the old Roman or Eastern Empire, brought over by the crusaders.

Eagle of the doctors of France. Pierre d'Ailly, a French cardinal and great astrologer, who calculated the horoscope of our Lord, and maintained that the stars foretold the great deluge. (1350—1425.)

Eagle of Brittany. Bertrand Duguesclin, Constable of France. (1320—1380.) Eagle of Meaux [mo]. Jacques Bénigne Bossuet, Bishop of Meaux, the grandest and most sublime of the pulpit orators of France. (1627—1704.)

Eagle

The two—headed eagle. Austria, Prussia (representing Germany), and Russia have two—headed eagles, one facing to the right and the other to the left. The one facing to the west indicates direct succession from Charlemagne, crowned the sixty—ninth emperor of the Romans from Augustus. In Russia it was Ivan

Basilovitz who first assumed the two—headed eagle, when, in 1472, he married Sophia, daughter of Thomas Palæologus, and niece of Constantine XIV., the last Emperor of Byzantium. The two heads symbolise the Eastern or Byzantine Empire and the Western or Roman Empire.

Eagle—stones

or Aetites Yellow clay ironstones supposed to have sanative and magical virtues. They are so called because they are found in eagles' nests. Epiphanius says, “In the interior of Scythia there is a valley inaccessible to man, down which slaughtered lambs are thrown. The small stones at the bottom of the valley adhere to these pieces of flesh, and eagles, when they carry away the flesh to their nests, carry the stones with it.” The story of Sindbad in the Valley of Diamonds will occur to the readers of this article (Epiphanius: De duodecim gemmis, etc., p. 30; 1743).

It is said that without these stones eagles cannot hatch their eggs.

Ear

(Anglo—Saxon, eáre.)

A deaf ear. One that refuses to listen; as if it heard not.

Bow down Thine ear. Condescend to hear or listen. (Ps. xxxi. 2.) By ear. To sing or play by ear means to sing or play without knowledge of musical notes, depending on the ear only.

Give ear to ... Listen to; give attention to. I am all ear. All attention.

“I was all ear,

And took in strains that might create a soul Under the ribs of death.”

Milton: Comus, 574.

I'll send you off with a flea in your ear. With a cuff or box of the ear. The allusion is to domestic animals, who are sometimes greatly annoyed with these “tiny torments.” There seems also to be a pun implied — flea and flee.

The French equivalent is “Mettre la puce à l'oreille, ' to give one a good jobation.

In at one ear, and out at the other. Forgotten as soon as heard.

No ear. A bad ear for musical intonations; “ear—blind” or “sound—blind.” Dionysius's Ear. A bell—shaped chamber connected by an underground passage with the king's palace. Its object was that the tyrant of Syracuse might over—hear whatever was passing in the prison.

Ear—finger

The little finger, which is thrust into the ear if anything tickles it.

Ear—marked

Marked so as to be recognised. The allusion is to marking cattle and sheep on the ear, by which they may be readily recognised.

“The increase [of these wild cattle] were duly branded and ear—marked each year.” — Nineteenth Century (May, 1893), p. 789.

“The late president [Balmaceda] took on board a large quantity of silver, which had been ear— marked for a particular purpose.” — Newspaper paragraph, Sept. 4, 1891.

Ear—shot

Within ear—shot. Within hearing. The allusion is palpable.

Ears

About one's ears. Causing trouble. The allusion is to a house falling on one, or a hornet's nest buzzing about one's head.

Bring the house about your ears. Set the whole family against you.

If your ears burn, people say some one is talking of you. This is very old, for Pliny says, “When our ears do glow and tingle, some do talk of us in our absence.” Shakespeare, in Much Ado About Nothing (iii. 1), makes Beatrice say, when Ursula and Hero had been talking of her, “What fire is in mine ears?” Sir Thomas Browne ascribes this conceit to the superstition of guardian angels, who touch the right ear if the talk is favourable, and the left if otherwise. This is done to cheer or warn.

“One ear tingles; some there be

That are snarling now at me.”

Herrick: Hesperides.

Little pitchers kave large ears. (See Pitchers.)

Mine ears hast thou bored. Thou hast accepted me as thy bond—slave for life. If a Hebrew servant declined to go free after six years' service, the master was to bring him to the doorpost, and bore his ear through with an awl, in token of his voluntary servitude. (Exod. xxi. 6.)

Over head and ears (in love, in debt, etc.). Wholly, desperately.

“He is over head and ears in love with the maid. He loves her better than his own life.” — Terence in English.

To give's one's ears [to obtain an object]. To make a considerable sacrifice for the purpose. The allusion is to the ancient practice of cutting off the ears of those who loved their own offensive opinions better than their ears.

To have itching ears. Loving to hear news or current gossip. (2 Tim. iv. 3.) To prick up one's ears. To listen attentively to something not expected, as horses prick up their ears at a sudden sound.

“At which, like unbacked colts, they pricked their ears.”

Shakespeare: The Tempest, iv. 1.

To set people together by the ears. To create ill—will among them; to set them quarrelling and pulling each other's ears.

“When civil dudgeon first grew high,

And men fell out, they knew not why;

When hard words, jealousies, and fears,

Set folks together by the ears.”

Butler: Hudibras (The opening).

To tickle the ears. To gratify the ear either by pleasing sounds or flattering words. Walls have ears. Things uttered in secret get rumoured abroad. Chaucer says, “That field hath eyen, and the wood hath ears.” (Canterbury Tales, v. 1,524.)

Ears to ear Bible

(The). (1810.) “Who hath ears to ear, let him hear.” (Matt. xiii. 43.) (See Bible.)

Earing

Ploughing. (Anglo—Saxon, erian, to plough; Latin, aro.)

“And yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest.” — Genesis xiv. 6.

“In earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest.” — Exodus xxxiv. 21.

Earl (Anglo—Saxon, eorl, a man of position, in opposition to ceorl, a churl, or freeman of the lowest rank; Danish, jarl ). William the Conqueror tried to introduce the word Count, but did not succeed, although the wife of an earl is still called a countess.

“The sheriff is called in Latin vice—comés, as being the deputy of the earl or comés, to whom the custody of the shire is said to have been committed.” — Blackstone: Commentaries, book

i. chap. ix. p. 339.

Earl of Mar's Grey Breeks

The 21st Foot are so called because they wore grey breeches when the Earl of Mar was their colonel. (1678—1686.)

The 21st Foot is now called the “Royal Scots Fusiliers.”

Early to Bed

“Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”

“Lever à cinq, diner à neuf,

Souper à cinq, coucher à neuf,

Font vivre d'ans nonante neuf.” (The older of the two.)

“Lever à six, diner à dix,

Super à six, coucher à dix,

Fait vivre I'homme dix fois dix.”

Earth

To gather strength from the earth. The reference is to Antæos, son of Poseidon and Ge, a giant and wrestler of Libya (Africa). So long as he touched the earth his strength was irresistible. Hercules, knowing this, lifted him into the air and crushed him to death. Near the town of Tingis, in Mauritania, is a hill in the shape of a man, and called The hill of Antæos. Tradition says it is the wrestler's tomb. (See Maleger.)

Earthmen

(The). Gnomes and fairies of the mines: a solemn race, who nevertheless can laugh most heartily and dance most merrily.

“We [earthmen] work at the mines for men; we put the ore in readiness for the miners.” — Besant and Rice: Titania's Farewell.

Earthquakes

According to Indian mythology, the world rests on the head of a great elephant, and when, for the sake of rest, the huge monster refreshes itself by moving its head, an earthquake is produced. The elephant is called “Muha—pudma.”

“Having penetrated to the south, they saw the great elephant `Muha—pudma,' equal to a huge mountain, sustaining the earth with its head.” — The Ramayuna (section xxxiii.).

The Lamas say that the earth is placed on the back of a gigantic frog, and when the frog stretches its limbs or moves its head, it shakes the earth. Other Eastern mythologists place the earth on the back of a tortoise.

Greek and Roman mythologists ascribe earthquakes to the restlessness of the giants which Jupiter buried under high mountains. Thus Virgil (Æneid, iii. 578) ascribes the eruption of Etna to the giant Enceladus.

Earwig

A corruption of the Saxon ear—wicga (ear—insect); so called because the hind wings resemble in shape the human ear. The word has engendered the notion that these insects are apt to get into our ears.

An earwig, metaphorically, is one who whispers into our ears all the news and scandal going, in order to curry favour; a flatterer.

“Court earwigs banish from your ears.” Political Ballads.

Ease

(Anglo—Saxon, eath; Latin, oti—um)

At ease. Without pain or anxiety.

Ill at ease. Uneasy, not comfortable, anxious. Stand at ease A command given to soldiers to rest for a time. The “gentlemen stood at ease" means in an informal manner.

To ease one of his money or purse. To steal it. (See Little Ease.)

Ease

(Chapel of). (See Chapel .)

Ease Her!

A command given on a steamer to reduce speed. The next order is generally “Stop her!” — i.e. the steamboat.

East

The custom of turning to the east when the creed is repeated is to express the belief that Christ is the

Day—spring and Sun of Righteousness. The altar is placed at the east end of the church to remind us of Christ,

the “Day—spring” and “Resurrection”; and persons are buried with their feet to the east to signify that they died in the hope of the Resurrection.

The ancient Greeks always buried their dead with the face upwards, looking towards heaven; and the feet turned to the east or the rising sun, to indicate that the deceased was on his way to Elysium, and not to the region of night or the inferno. (Diogenés Laertius: Life of Solon, in Greek.)

East Indies

(1) He came safe from the East Indies, and was drowned in the Thames. He encountered many dangers of great magnitude, but was at last killed where he thought himself secure.

(2) To send to the East Indies for Kentish pippins. To go round about to accomplish a very simple thing. To crush a fly on a wheel. To send to the Chancellor of the Exchequer for a penny postage—stamp.

Easter

April was called Ostermonath — the month of the Ost—end wind (wind from the east). Easter is therefore the April feast, which lasted eight days. Our Easter Sunday must be between March 21st and April 25th. It is regulated by the paschal moon, or first full moon between the vernal equinox and fourteen days afterwards. (Teutonic, ostara; Anglo—Saxon, eastre.)

Easter. The Saxon goddess of the east, whose festival was held in the spring.

Easter—day Sun

It was formerly a common belief that the sun danced on Easter Day. Sir Thomas Browne combats the notion in his Vulgar Errors.

“But oh, she dances such a way,

No sun upon an Easter day

Is half so fine a sight.”

Sir John Suckling.

Easter Eggs

or Pasch eggs, are symbolical of creation, or the re—creation of spring. The practice of presenting eggs to our friends at Easter is Magian or Persian, and bears allusion to the mundane egg, for which Ormuzd and Ahriman were to contend till the consummation of all things. It prevailed not only with the Persians, but also among the Jews, Egyptians, and Hindus. Christians adopted the custom to symbolise the resurrection, and they colour the eggs red in allusion to the blood of their redemption. There is a tradition, also, that the world was “hatched” or created at Easter—tide.

“Bless, Lord, we beseech thee, this Thy creature of eggs, that it may become a wholesome sustenance to Thy faithful servants, eating it in thankfulness to Thee, on account of the resurrection of our Lord.” — Pope Paul V: Ritual.

Eat

To eat humble pie. (See Humble Pie.)

To eat one out of house and home. To eat so much that one will have to part with house and home in order to pay for it.

To eat one's words. To retract in a humiliating manner; to unsay what you have said; to eat your own lick. To eat the mad cow. A French phrase, implying that a person is reduced to the very last extremity, and is willing to eat even a cow that has died of madness; glad to eat cat's meat.

“Il mangea de cette chose inexprimable qu'on appelle de la vache enragée.” — Victor Hugo: Les Miserables.

To eat the leek. (See Leek.)

To eat well. To have a good appetite. But “It eats well” means that what is eaten is agreeable or flavorous. To “eat badly” is to eat without appetite or too little; not pleasant to the taste.

Eat not the Brain This is the 31st Symbol in the Protreptics of Iamblichus; and the prohibition is very similar to that of Moses forbidding the Jews to eat the blood, because the blood is the life. The brain is the seat of reason and the ruler of the body. It was also esteemed the Divine part — at least, of man.

Eat not the Heart

This is the 30th Symbol in the Protreptics of Iamblichus. Pythagoras forbade judges and priests to eat animal food at all, because it was taking away life. Other persons he did not wholly forbid this food, but he restricted them from eating the brain (the seat of wisdom) and the heart (the seat of life).

Eat One's Heart Out

(To). To fret or worry unreasonably; to allow one grief or one vexation to predominate over the mind, tincture all one's ideas, and absorb all other emotions.

Eats his Head Off

(The horse). Eats more than he is worth, or the work done does not pay for the cost of keeping. A horse which stands in the stable unemployed eats his head off.

Eating One's Terms

To be studying for the bar. Students are required to dine in the Hall of the Inns of Court at least three times in each of the twelve terms before they are “called” [to the bar]. (See Doctors' Commons.)

Eating Together

To eat together in the East was at one time a sure pledge of protection. A Persian nobleman was once sitting in his garden, when a man prostrated himself before him, and implored protection from the rabble. The nobleman gave him the remainder of a peach which he was eating, and when the incensed multitude arrived, and declared that the man had slain the only son of the nobleman, the heart—broken father replied, “We have eaten together; go in peace,” and would not allow the murderer to be punished.

Eau de Cologne

A perfumed spirit, prepared at Cologne. The most famous maker was Jean Maria Farina.

Eau de Vie

Brandy. A French translation of the Latin aqua vitæ (water of life). This is a curious perversion of the Spanish acqua di vitæ (water or juice of the vine), rendered by the monks into aqua vitæ instead of aqua vitis, and confounding the juice of the grape with the alchemists' elixir of life. The same error is perpetuated in the Italian acqua vite; the Scotch whisky, which is the Celtic uisc—lyf; and the Irish usquebaugh, which is the Gaelic and Irish uisgæ—beatha. (See Aqua Vitae.)

Eaves—dropper

One who listens stealthily to conversation. The derivation of the term is not usually understood. The owners of private estates in Saxon times were not allowed to cultivate to the extremity of their possessions, but were obliged to leave a space for eaves. This space was called the yfes—drype (eaves—drip). An eaves—dropper is one who places himself in the eaves—drip to overhear what is said in the adjacent house or field.

“Under our tents I'll play the eaves—dropper,

To hear if any mean to shrink from me.”

Shakespeare: Richard III., v. 3.

Ebionism

The doctrine that the poor only shall be saved. Ebion, plural ebionim (poor).

“At the end of the second century the Ebionites were treated as heretics, and a pretended leader (Ebion) was invented by Tertullian to explain the name.” — Renan: Life of Jesus, chap. xi.

Ebionites

(4 syl.). A religious sect of the first and second centuries, who maintained that Jesus Christ was merely an inspired messenger, the greatest of all prophets, but yet a man and a man only, without any existence before His birth in Bethlehem. (See above.)

Eblis or Ibleis. A jinn, and the ruler of the evil genii, or fallen angels. Before his fall he was called Azazel or Hharis. When Adam was created, God commanded all the angels to worship him; but Eblis replied, “Me thou hast created of smokeless fire, and shall I reverence a creature made of dust?” God was very angry at this insolent answer, and turned the disobedient fay into a Sheytân (devil), and he became the father of devils.

“His majesty was a hundred feet in height; his skin, striped with red, was covered with small scales, which made it glisten like armour; his hair was so long and curly a snake might have lost its way in it; his flat nose was pierced with a ring of admirable workmanship; his small eyes assumed all the prismatic colours; his ears, which resembled those of an elephant, flapped on his shoulders; and his tail, sixty feet long, terminated in a hooked claw.” — Croquemitaine, ii. 10.

“When he said unto the angels, `Worship Adam,' all worshipped him except Eblis.” — Al Koran, ii.

Ebony

God's image done in ebony. Negroes. Thomas Fuller gave birth to this expression.

Ebu'dæ

The Hebrides. (Ariosto: Orlando Furioso.)

Ecce Homo

A painting by Correggio of our Lord crowned with thorns and bound with ropes, as He was shown to the people by Pilate, who said to them, “Ecce homo!” (Behold the man!) (John xix. 5.)

Other conceptions of this subject, either painted or engraved, are by Albert Durer (1471—1528), Titian (1477—1576), Cigoli (1559—1613), Guido (1574—1642), Albani (1578—1660), Vandyck (1599—1641), Rembrandt (1608—1669), Poussin (1613—1675), and some others.

Ecce Signum

See it, in proof; Behold the proof!

“I am eight times thrust through the doublet, four through the hose; my buckler cut through and through; my sword hacked like a handsaw — ecce signum!” — Shakespeare: 1 Henry IV.,

ii. 4.

Eccentric

means deviating from the centre; hence irregular, not according to rule. Originally applied to those planets which wander round the earth, like comets, the earth not being in the centre of their orbit. (Latin, ex centrum.)

Eccentric Sensation

The sensations of the brain transferred to objects without. For example: we see a tree; this tree is a reflection of the tree on the retina transferred to the brain; but the tree seen is the tree without, not the tree in the brain. This transferred perception is called an “Eccentric Sensation.”

Eccentric Theory (The) in astronomy. A theory which uses an eccentric instead of an epicycle in accounting for the sun's motion.

Ecclesiastes

(5 syl.). One of the books in the Old Testament, arranged next to Proverbs, generally ascribed to Solomon, because it says (verse 1), “The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.” This seems, so far, to confirm the authorship to Solomon; but verse 12 says, “I, the Preacher, was king over Israel, in Jerusalem,” which seems to intimate that he was once a king, but was so no longer. If so, it could not be Solomon, who died king of the twelve tribes. “Son of David” often means a descendant of David, Christ himself being so called.

Ecclesiastical

The father of ecclesiastical history. Eusebius of Cæsare'a (264—340).

Ecclesiasticus

is so called, not because the writer was a priest, but because the book (in the opinion of the fathers) was the chief of the apocryphal books, designated by them Ecclesiastici Libri (books to be read in churches), to distinguish them from the canonical Scriptures.

Echidna

(E—kid'—na). Half—woman, half—serpent. She was mother of the Chimæra, the many—headed dog Orthos, the hundred—headed dragon of the Hesperides, the Colchian dragon, the Sphinx, Cerberos, Scylla, the Gorgons, the Lernæan hydra, the vulture that gnawed away the liver of Prometheus, and the Nemean lion.

(Hesiod.)

“[She] seemed a woman to the waist, and fair

But ended foul in many a scaly fold,

Voluminous and vast.”

Milton: Paradise Lost, book ii. 650—2.

Echo

The Romans say that Echo was a nymph in love with Narcissus, but her love not being returned, she pined away till only her voice remained. We use the word to imply similarity of sentiment: as You echo my ideas; That is an echo to my opinion.

“Sweet Echo, sweetest nymph, that liv'st unseen

Within thy airy shell,

By slow Meänder's margent green ...

Canst thou not tell me of a gentle pair

That likest thy Narcissus are?”

Milton: Comus, 230, etc.

Echo

(Gr., eko; verb, ekeo, to sound.)

To applaud to the echo. To appland so loudly as to produce an echo.

Eckhardt

A faithful Eckhardt, who warneth everyone (German). Eckhardt, in German legends, appears on the evening of Maundy Thursday to warn all persons to go home, that they may not be injured by the headless bodies and two—legged horses which traverse the streets on that night.

Eclectics

Ancient philosophers, who selected what they thought best in all other systems, and made a patchwork therefrom. There is the eclectic school of painters, of which Paul Delaroche was the founder and best exponent; the eclectic school of modern philosophy, founded by Victor Cousin; the eclectic school of architecture; and so on. (Greek, ek—lego, to pick out.)

Eclectics or Modern Platonists. A Christian sect which arose in the second century. They professed to make truth their sole object of inquiry, and adopted from existing systems whatever, in their opinion, was true. They were called Platonists because they adopted Plato's notions about God and the human soul.

Eclipses were considered by the ancient Greeks and Romans as bad omens. Nicías, the Athenian general, was so terrified by an eclipse of the moon, that he durst not defend himself from the Syracusans; in consequence of which his whole army was cut to pieces, and he himself was put to death.

The Romans would never hold a public assembly during an eclipse. Some of their poets feign that an eclipse of the moon is because she is gone on a visit to Endymion.

A very general notion was and still is among barbarians that the sun or moon has been devoured by some monster, and hence the custom of beating drums and brass kettles to scare away the monster.

The Chinese, Laps, Persians, and some others call the evil beast a dragon. The East Indians say it is a black griffin.

The notion of the ancient Mexicans was that eclipses were caused by sun and moon quarrels, in which one of the litigants is beaten black and blue.

Ecliptic

The path apparently described by the sun in his annual course through the heavens. Eclipses happen only when the moon is in or near the same plane.

Eclogue

(2 syl.). Pastoral poetry not expressed in rustic speech, but in the most refined and elegant of which the language is capable. (Greek, meaning “elegant extracts,” “select poetry.”)

Ecnephia

A sort of hurricane, similar to the Typhon.

“The circling Typhon, whirled from point to point, ...

And dire Ecnephia reign.”

Thomson: Summer.

Ecole des Femmes

Molière borrowed the plot of this comedy from the novelletti of Ser Giovanni, composed in the fourteenth century.

Economy

means the rules or plans adopted in managing one's own house. As we generally prevent extravagant waste, and make the most of our means in our own homes, so the careful expenditure of money in general is termed house—management. The word is applied to time and several other things, as well as money. (Greek, oikos nomos, house—law.)

Animal economy. The system, laws, and management whereby the greatest amount of good accrues to the animal kingdom.

“Animal ... economy, according to which animal affairs are regulated and disposed.” — Shaftesbury: Characteristics.

Political economy. The principles whereby the revenues and resources of a nation are made the most of. Thus: Is Free Trade good or bad economy? Articles are cheaper, and therefore the buying value of money is increased; but, on the other hand, competition is increased, and therefore wages are lowered.

Vegetable economy. The system, laws, and management, whereby the greatest amount of good is to be derived by the vegetable kingdom.

The Christian Economy. The religious system based on the New Testament. That is, what is the best economy of man, taking into account the life that now is, and that which is to come? The answer is thus summed up by Christ: “What is a man profited though he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? For what should a man give in exchange for his soul?”

The Mosaic economy. The religious system taught by God: that is, the system whereby man obtains the greatest amount of value for his conduct, whether by serving God or living for this life only. Also called “The Jewish Economy.”

Economy is a great income. “No alchemy like frugality.” “Ever save, ever have.” The following also are to a

similar effect: “A pin a day is a groat a year.” “Take care of the pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves.” “Many a little makes a mickle.” “Frae saving, comes having.” “A penny saved is a penny gained.” “Little and often fills the purse.”

Latin: “Non intelligunt homines quam magnum vectigal sit parsimonia” (Cicero). “Sera in fundo est parsimonia” (Seneca).

French: “Plusieurs Peu font un Beaucoup.” “Denier sur denier bâtit la maison.” German: “Die sparsamkeit ist ein grosser zyll" (Parsimony is a great income).

Economy of Nature

(The). The laws of nature, whereby the greatest amount of good is obtained; or the laws by which the affairs of nature are regulated and disposed.

Ecorcheurs

Freebooters of the twelfth century, in France; so called because they stripped their victims of everything, even their clothes. (French, écorcher, to flay.)

Ecstasy

(Greek ex—stasisfrom ex—istemi, to stand out of [the body or mind]). To stand out of one's mind is to lose one's wits, to be beside oneself. To stand out of one's body is to be disembodied. St. Paul refers to this when he says he was caught up to the third heaven and heard unutterable words, “whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell” (2 Cor. xii. 2—4). St. John also says he was “in the spirit” — i.e. in an ecstasy — when he saw the apocalyptic vision (i. 10). The belief that the soul left the body at times was very general in former ages, and is still the belief of many. (See Ecstatici.)

Ecstatic Doctor

(The). Jean de Ruysbrock, the mystic (1294—1381).

Ecstatici

(The). A class of diviners among the ancient Greeks, who used to lie in trances, and when they came to themselves gave strange accounts of what they had seen while they were “out of the body.” (Greek, ex—istemi.)

Ector

(Sir). The foster—father of King Arthur.

Edda

There are two religious codes, so called, containing the ancient Scandinavian mythology. One is in verse, composed in Iceland in the eleventh century by Sæmund Sigfusson, the Sage; and the other in prose, compiled a century later by Snorri Sturleson, who wrote a commentary on the first edda. The poetical edda contains an account of creation, the history of Odin, Thor, Freyr, Balder, etc., etc. The prose one contains the exploits of such conquerors as Voelsung, Sigurd, Attle, etc., and is divided into several parts. The first part contains historical and mythological traditions; the second a long poetical vocabulary; and the third Scandinavian prosody, or the modes of composition adopted by the ancient Skalds. The poetical compilation is generally called Sæmund's Edda, and the prose one Snorri's Edda.

Eden Paradise, the country and garden in which Adam and Eve were placed by God (Gen. ii. 15). The word means delight, pleasure.

Eden Hall The luck of Eden Hall. An old painted drinking—glass, supposed to be sacred. The tale is that the butler once went to draw water from St. Cuthbert's Well, in Eden Hall garden, Cumberland, when the fairies left their drinking—glass on the well to enjoy a little fun. The butler seized the glass, and ran off with it. The goblet is preserved in the family of Sir Christopher Musgrave. Longfellow wrote a poem on the subject. The superstition is —

“If that glass either break or fall,

Farewell the luck of Eden Hall.”

Readers of the Golden Butterfly, by Besant and Rice, will remember how the luck of Gilead P. Beck was associated with a golden butterfly.

Edenburgh

i.e. Edwin's burgh. The fort built by Edwin, king of Northumbria (616—633). Dun Eden or Dunedin, is a Saxon form; Edina a poetical one.

Edgar

or Edgardo. Master of Ravenswood, in love with Lucy Ashton (Lucia di Lammermoor). While absent in France on an important embassy, the lady is led to believe that her lover has proved faithless to her, and in the torrent of her indignation consents to marry the laird of Bucklaw, but stabs him on the wedding—night, goes mad, and dies. In the opera Edgardo stabs himself also; but in the novel he is lost in the quicksands at Kelpies—Flow, in accordance with an ancient prophecy. (Donizetti's opera of “Lucia di Lammermoor”; Sir Walter Scott's “Bride of Lammermoor.”

Edge (Anglo—Saxon, ecg.)

Not to put too fine an edge upon it. Not to mince the matter; to speak plainly.

“He is, not to put too fine an edge upon it, a thorough scoundrel.” — Lowell.

To be on edge. To be very eager or impatient.

To set one's teeth on edge. To give one

the horrors; to induce a tingling or grating sensation in one's teeth, as from acids or harsh noises.

“I had rather hear a brazen canstick turned,

Or a dry wheel grate on the axle—tree;

And that would set my teeth nothing on edge, Nothing so much as mincing poetry.”

Shakespeare: 1 Henry IV., iii. 1.

Edge Away

(To). To move away very gradually, as a ship moves from the edge of the shore. Often called egg. (Anglo—Saxon, ecg, an edge; ecg—clif, is a sea cliff.)

Edge—bone

(See Aitch—Bone .)

Edge on

(See Egg on .)

Edge of the Sword

To fall by the edge of the sword. By a cut from the sword; in battle.

Edgewise

One cannot get in a word edgewise. The [conversation is so engrossed by others] that there is no getting in a word.

Edged Tools

It is dangerous to play with edged tools. It is dangerous to tamper with mischief or anything that may bring you into trouble.

Edhilingi

The aristocratic class among the Anglo—Saxons; the second rank were termed the Frilingi; and the third the Lazzi, (Anglo—Saxon, ædele or edele, noble; free—ling, free—born. Ricardo says of the third class, they were the “unwilling to work, the dull” — quos hodie lazie dicimus.)

Edict of Milan Proclaimed by Constantine, after the conquest of Italy (313), to secure to Christians the restitution of their civil and religious rights.

Edict of Nantes

An edict published by Henri IV. of France, granting toleration to his Protestant subjects. It was published from Nantes in 1598, but repealed in 1685 by Louis XIV.

Edie Ochiltree

In Scott's Antiquary.

“Charles II. would be as sceptical as Edie Ochiltree about the existence of circles and avenues, altar—stones and cromlechs.” — Knight: Old England.

Edify

is to build a house (Latin, ædes—facio); morally, to build instruction in the mind methodically, like an architect. The Scripture word edification means the building—up of “believers” in grace and holiness. St. Paul says, “Ye are God's building,” and elsewhere he carries out the figure more fully, saying —

“All the building [or body of Christians], fitly framed together, groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord.” — Eph. ii. 21.

Ediles

(2 syl.). Roman officers who had charge of the streets, bridges, aqueducts, temples, and city buildings generally. We call our surveyors city ediles sometimes. (Latin, ædes, a house.)

Edith

called the Maid of Lorn (Argyleshire), was about to be married to Lord Ronald, when Robert, Edward, and Isabel Bruce, tempest—tossed, sought shelter at the castle. Edith's brother recognised the Bruce, and being in the English interest, a quarrel ensued, in the course of which the abbot arrived, but refused to marry the bridal pair amidst such discord. Edith fled, and, assuming the character of a page, passed through divers adventures. At length Robert Bruce won the battle of Baunockburn, and when peace was restored Ronald married the “Maid of Lorn.” (Scott: Lord of the Isles.)

Ednam

in Roxburghshire, near the Tweed, where Thomson, the author of The Seasons, was born.

“The Tweed, pure parent—stream,

Whose pastoral banks first heard my Doric reed.” Autumn (888—9).

Edobe

(2 syl.). Edobe cottages are those made of sun—dried bricks, like the buildings of ancient Egypt. (W. Hepworth Dixon: New America, i. 16.)

The present and proper form of this word is Adobe (Spanish, adobar, plaster).

“They make adobes, or sun—dried bricks, by mixing ashes and earth with water, which is then moulded into large blocks and dried in the sun.” — Bancroft: Native Races, vol. i. p. 535.

Edward

Edward the Confessor's sword. Curtana (the cutter), a blunt sword of state, emblematical of mercy.

The Chevalier Prince Charles Edward. The Young Pretender. Introduced by Sir Walter Scott in Redgauntlet, first as “Father Buonaventura,” and afterwards as Pretender to the Crown. Again in Waverley.

Edwidge Wife of William Tell. (Rossini's opera of Guglielmo Tell. )

Edwin

The hero of Beattie's Minstrel.

“And yet poor Edwin was no vulgar boy;

Deep thought oft seemed to fix his infant eye,

Dainties he heeded not, nor gaud, nor toy,

Save one short pipe of rudest minstrelsy;

Silent when glad; affectionate, though shy. And now his look was most demurely sad; And now he laughed aloud, yet none knew why. The neighbours stared and sighed, yet blessed the lad; Some deemed him wondrous wise, and some believed him mad.” Canto i. 16.

Edyrn

Son of Nudd; called the “Sparrowhawk.” He ousted the Earl of Yniol from his earldom, and tried to win E'nid, the earl's daughter, but failing in this, became the evil genius of the gentle earl. Being overthrown in a tournament by Prince Geraint', he was sent to the court of King Arthur, where his whole nature was completely changed, and “subdued to that gentleness which, when it weds with manhood, makes a man.”

(Idylls of the King; Enid.)

Eel

A nickname for a New Englander.

“The eels of New England and the corncrackers of Virginia.” — Haliburton: Clockmaker.

Eel

A salt eel. A rope's end, used for scourging. At one time eelskins were used for whips.

“With my salt eele, went down in the parler, and there got my boy and did beat him.” — Pepys' Diary (April 24th).

Eel

(Anglo—Saxon, oel.)

Holding the eel of science by the tail. That is, to have an ephemeral smattering of a subject, which slips from the memory as an eel would wriggle out of one's fingers if held by the tail.

“Cauda tenes anguillam, in eos apte dicetur, quibus res est cum hominibus lubrica fide, perflidisque, aut qui rem fugitivam atque incertam aliquam habent, quam tueri diu non possint.” — Erasmus: Adagia, p. 324. (1629.)

To get used to it, as a skínned eel, i.e. as an eel is used to being skinned. It may be unpleasant at first, but habit will get the better of such annoyance.

“It ain't always pleasant to turn out for morning chapel, is it, Gig—lamps? But it's just like the eels with their skinning: it goes against the grain at first, but you soon get used to it.” — Cuthbert Bede [Bradley]: Verdant Green, chap. vii.

To skin an eel by the tail is to do things the wrong way.

Eelkhance Tables

The celebrated calculation of Nazir' u Dien, the Persian astronomer, grandson of Zenghis Khan, brought out in the middle of the thirteenth century.

Effendi

A Turkish title, about equal to our “squire,” given to emirs, men of learning, and the high priests of mosques. The title is added after the name, as Ali effendi (Ali Esquire).

Effigy

To burn or hang one in effigy. To burn or hang the representation of a person, instead of the person himself, in order to show popular hatred, dislike, or contempt. The custom comes from France, where the public executioner used to hang the effigy of the criminal when the criminal himself could not be found.

Effrontery

Out—facing, rude persistence, and overbearing impudence. (Latin, ef—frons, i.e. ex—frons, out—face.)

Egalité Philippe, Duc d'Orléans, father of Louis—Philippe, King of the French, was so called because he sided with the revolutionary party, whose motto was “Liberty, fraternity, and equality.” Philippe Egalité was guillotined in 1793.

Egeria

The nymph who instructed Numa in his wise legislation. Numa used to meet her in a grove near Aricia.

Egg. Eggs

(Anglo—Saxon, æg.)

A bad egg. A bad speculation; a man who promises, but whose promises are pie—crust. A duck's egg, in cricket. (See Duck.)

Golden eggs. Great profits. (See Goose.)

“I doubt the bird is flown that laid the golden eggs.” — Scott: The Antiquary.

The mundane egg. The Phoenicians, and from them the Egyptians, Hindus, Japanese, and many other ancient nations, maintained that the world was hatched from an egg made by the Creator. Orpheus speaks of this egg.

Eggs of Nuremberg. (See Nuremberg.) Pasch eggs. (See Easter Eggs.)

The serpent's egg of the Druids. This wonderful egg was hatched by the joint labour of several serpents, and was buoyed into the air by their hissing. The person who caught it had to ride off at full speed, to avoid being stung to death; but the possessor was sure to prevail in every contest or combat, and to be courted by those in power. Pliny says he had seen one of these eggs, and that it was about as large as a moderate—sized apple.

PHRASES AND PROVERBS:

Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Don't venture all you have in one speculation; don't put all your property in one bank. The allusion is obvious.

From the egg to the apples. (Latin, “ab ovo usque ad mala. “) From first to last. The Romans began their “dinner” with eggs, and ended with fruits called “mala.”

I have eggs on the spit. I am very busy, and cannot attend to anything else. The reference is to roasting eggs on a spit. They were first boiled, then the yolk was taken out, braided up with spices, and put back again; the eggs were then drawn on a “spit,” and roasted. As this required both despatch and constant attention, the person in charge could not leave them. It must be remembered that the word “spit” had at one time a much wider meaning than it has now. Thus toasting—forks and the hooks of a Dutch oven were termed spits.

“I forgot to tell you, I write short journals now; I have eggs on the spit.” — Swift.

I got eggs for my money means I have valuable money, and received instead such worthless things as eggs. When Wolsey accused the Earl of Kildare for not taking Desmond prisoner, the Earl replied, “He is no more to blame than his brother Ossory, who (notwithstanding his high promises) is glad to take eggs for his money,” i.e. is willing to be imposed on. (Campion: History of Ireland, 1633.)

Like as two eggs. Exactly alike.

“They say we are almost as like as eggs.” — Shakespeare: Winter's Tale, i. 2.

Sure as eggs is eggs. Professor de Morgan suggests that this is a corruption of the logician's formula, “x is x. ” (Notes and Queries. )

Teach your grandmother to suck eggs. Attempting to teach your elders and superiors. The French say, “The goslings want to drive the geese to pasture” (Les oisons veulent mener les ois païtre).

There is reason in roasting eggs. Even the most trivial thing has a reason for being done in one way rather than in some other. When wood fires were usual, it was more common to roast eggs than to boil them, and some care was required to prevent their being “ill—roasted, all on one side,” as Touchstone says (As You Like

It, iii. 2).

“One likes the pheasant's wing, and one the leg;

The vulgar boil, the learned roast an egg.” Pope: Epistles, ii.

To tread upon eggs. To walk gingerly, as if walking over eggs, which are easily broken. Will you take eggs for your money? “Will you allow yourself to be imposed upon? Will you take kicks for half—pence?” This saying was in vogue when eggs were plentiful as black—berries.

“My honest friend, will you take eggs for money?” — Shakespeare: Winter's Tale, i. 2.

Egg Feast

In Oxford the Saturday preceding Shrove Tuesday is so called; it is also called Egg—Saturday, because pasch eggs are provided for the students on that day.

Egg—flip, Egg—hot, Egg—nog

Drinks composed of warm spiced ale, with sugar, spirit and eggs; or eggs beaten up with wine, sweetened and flavoured, etc.

Egg—on

or Edge—on. A corruption of the Saxon eggian (to incite). The Anglo—Saxon ecg, and Scandinavian eg, means a “sharp point” — hence edge—hog (hedgehog), a hog with sharp points, called in Danish pin—swin (thorny swine), and in French porc—épic, where épic is the Latin spicula (spikes).

Egg Saturday

(See above, Egg—Feast .)

Egg—trot

A cautious, jog—trot pace, like that of a good housewife riding to market with eggs in her panniers.

Egil

Brother of Weland, the Vulcan of Northern mythology. Egil was a great archer, and a tale is told of him the exact counterpart of the famous story about William Tell: One day King Nidung commanded Egil to shoot an apple off the head of his son. Egil took two well—selected arrows from his quiver, and when asked by the king why he took two, replied (as the Swiss peasant to Gessler), “To shoot thee, O tyrant, with the second, if I fail.”

Egis

(See Ægis .)

Eglantine

(3 syl.). Daughter of King Pepin, and bride of her cousin Valentine, the brother of Orson. She soon died. (Valentine and Orson.)

Madame Eglantine. The prioress in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Good—natured, wholly ignorant of the world, vain of her courtly manners, and noted for her partiality to lap—dogs, her delicate oath, “by seint Eloy,” her “entuning the service swetely in her nose,” and her speaking French “after the scole of Stratford atte Bowe.”

Ego

and Non—Ego. “Ego” means I myself; “Non—ego” means the objective world. They are terms used by Fichté (1762—1814) to explain his Idealism. According to this philosopher, the Ego posits or embraces the

Non—ego. Take an example: A tree is an object out of my personality, and therefore a part of the Non—ego. I see a tree; the tree of my brain is a subjective tree, the tree itself is an objective tree. Before I can see it, the objective tree and the subjective tree must be like the two clocks of a telegraphic apparatus; the sender and reader must be in connection, the reader must “posit,” or take in the message sent. The message, or non—ego, must be engrafted into the ego. Applying this rule generally, all objects known, seen, heard, etc., by me become part of me, or the ego posits the non—ego by subjective objectivity.

Egoism The theory in Ethics which places man's summum bonum in self. The correlative of altruism, or the theory which places our own greatest happiness in making others happy. Egoism is selfishness pure, altruism is selfish benevolence. “Egoist,” a disciple of egoism.

“To say that each individual shall reap the benefits brought to him by his own powers ... is to enunciate egoism as an ultimate principle of conduct.” — Spencer: Data of Ethics, p. 189.

Egotism

The too frequent use of the word I; the habit of talking about oneself, or of parading one's own doings. “Egotist,” one addicted to egotism.

Egypt

in Dryden's satire of Absalom and Achitophel, means France.

“Egypt and Tyrus [Holland] intercept your trade,

And Jebusites [Papists] your sacred rites invade.” Part i. 705—6.

Egyptian Crown

(The). That of Upper Egypt was a high conical white cap, terminating in a knob. That of Lower Egypt was red. If a king governed both countries he wore both crowns (that of Lower Egypt outside the other). This double crown was called a pschent.

Egyptian Days

The last Monday in April, the second Monday of August, and the third Monday of December. So called because Egyptian astrologers marked them out.

“Three days there are in the year which we call

Egyptian Days.” — Saxon MS. (British Museum).

Egyptian Festivals

(The). The six great festivals of the ancient Egyptians were — 1. That of Bubastis (= Diana, or the moon);

2. That of Busiris, in honour of Isis;

3. That of Saïs (= Minerva, Hermes, or Wisdom);

4. That of Heliopolis, in honour of the sun;

5. That of Butis, or Buto, the goddess of night; and

6. That of Papremis (= Mars or Ares, the god of War).

Eider—down

The down of the eider duck. This duck is common in Greenland, Iceland, and the Islands north and west of Scotland. It is about the size of a goose, and receives its distinctive name from the river Eider, in Denmark.

Eikon Basilike

[Portraiture of the King ]. A book attributed to Charles I., but claimed by John Gauden, Bishop of Exeter. “The is wholly and only my invention.” (Gauden; Letter to the Lord Chancellor.)

Eisell Wormwood wine. Hamlet says to Laertes, Woul't drink up eisell — i.e. drink wormwood wine to show your love to the dead Ophelia? In the Troy Book of Ludgate we have the line “Of bitter eysell and of eager

[sour] wine.” And in Shakespeare's sonnets;

“I will drink

Potions of eysell, gainst my strong infection No bitterness that I will bitter think,

Nor double penance to correct correction.” Sonnet cxi.

Eisteddfod

The meetings of the Welsh bards and others, now held annually, for the encouragement of Welsh literature and music. (Welsh, “a sessions,” from eistedd, to sit.)

Either

(Greek, hekater'; Irish, ceachtar; Saxon, ægther. Ceach', our “each,” and ægther, our “either.”)

Ejusdem Farinæ

(Latin). Of the same kidney; of the same sort.

“Lord Hartington, Lord Derby, Mr Childers, and others ejusdem farinæ.” — Newspaper paragraph, November, 1885.

El Dorado

Golden illusion; a land or means of unbounded wealth. Orellana, lieutenant of Pizarro, pretended he had discovered a land of gold (el dorado) between the rivers Orinoco and Amazon, in South America. Sir Walter Raleigh twice visited Guiana as the spot indicated, and published a highly—coloured account of its enormous wealth. Figuratively, a source of wit, wealth, or abundance of any kind.

The real “land of gold” is California, and not Guiana. (See Balnibarbi.)

“The whole comedy is a sort of El Dorado of wit.” — T. Moore

El Dorado (masculine), “the gilt one,” can hardly refer to a country; it seems more likely to refer to some prince; and we are told of a prince in South America who was every day powdered with gold—dust blown through a reed. If this is admitted, no wonder those who sought a golden country were disappointed.

El Infante de Antequera

is the Regent Fernando, who took the city of Antequera from the Moors in 1419.

El Islam

The religion of the Moslems. The words mean “the resigning one's—self to God.”

El Khidr

One of the good angels, according to the Koran.

Elagabalus

A Syro—Phænician sun—god, represented under the form of a huge conical stone. The Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, was so called because in childhood he was priest of the Sun—god. Of all the Roman emperors none exceeded him in debauchery and sin. He reigned about four years (B.C. 218—222), and died at the age of eighteen.

This madman invited the principal men of Rome to a banquet, and smothered them in a shower of roses.

Elaine

(2 syl.). The “lily maid of Astolat” (Guildford, in Surrey ), who loved Sir Lancelot “with that love which was her doom.” Sir Lancelot, being sworn to celibacy, could not have married her, even if he had been willing; and, unhappily, what little love he had was bestowed on the queen. Elaine felt that her love was a vain thing, and died. According to her last request, the bed on which she died was placed on a barge, and on it was laid her dead body, arrayed in white, a lily in her right hand, and a letter avowing her love in the left. An old dumb servitor steered and rowed the barge up the river, and when it stopped at the palace staith, King Arthur ordered the body to be brought in. The letter being read, Arthur directed that the maiden should be buried like

a queen, with her sad story blazoned on her tomb. The tale is taken from Sir T. Malory's History of Prince Arthur, part iii. Tennyson turned it into blank verse. (Idylls of the King; Elaine. )

Elasmotherium

(Greek, the metalplate beast). An extinct animal, between the horse and the rhinoceros.

Elberich

The most famous dwarf of German romance. He aided the Emperor Otnit (who ruled over Lombardy) to gain for wife the Soldan's daughter. (The Heldenbuch.)

Elbow

(Anglo—Saxon, el—boga, el = an ell, boga = a bow.)

A knight of the elbow. A gambler. At one's elbow. Close at hand. To elbow one's way in. To push one's way through a crowd; to get a place by hook or crook. To elbow out, to be elbowed out. To supersede; to be ousted by a rival.

Up to one's elbow [in work]. Very busy, or full of work. Work piled up to one's elbows.

Elbow Grease

Perspiration excited by hard manual labour. They say “Elbow grease is the best furniture oil.”

Elbow Room

Sufficient space for the work in hand.

Elbows

Out at elbows. Shabbily dressed (applied to men only), metaphorically, short of money; hackneyed; stale; thus, we say of a play which has been acted too often that it is worn out at elbows. It is like a coat which is no longer presentable, being out at the elbows.

Elden Hole

Elden Hole needs filling. A reproof given to great braggarts. Elden Hole is a deep pit in Derbyshire Peak, said to be fathomless. (See Sir W. Scott Peveril of the Peak, ch. iii.)

Elder—tree

Sir John Maundeville, speaking of the Pool of Siloe, says, “Fast by is the elder—tree on which Judas hanged himself. when he sold and betrayed our Lord.” Shakespeare, in Love's Labour's Lost, v. 2, says, “Judas was hanged on an elder” (See Fig—Tree.)

“Judas he japed

With Jewish siller,

And sithen on an elder tree

Hanged himself ... when”

Piers Plowman: Vision.

Eleanor Crosses

(See Charing Cross .)

Eleatic Philosophy

Founded by Xenophanes of Elea about B.C. 530. The Ionic school believed there was but one element; the Eleatics said there were four or six, as heat and cold, moisture and dryness, odd and even, from the antagonisms of which visible objects sprang: Thus, Fire is heat acting on dryness, Air is heat acting on moisture; Water is cold acting on moisture; and Earth is cold acting on dryness. (See below.)

The New Eleatic School was founded by Leucippos of Elea, a disciple of Zeno. He wholly discarded the phantasmagoric theory, and confined his attention to the physical properties of the visible world. He was the father of the Atomic System, in which the agency of chance was again revived.

Elecampane and Amrida

Sweetmeats which confer immortality (Latin, helenium campana ) or inula campana) Pliny tells us the plant so called sprang from Helen's tears. The sweetmeat so called is a coarse sugar—candy. There was also an electuary so called, said to cure wounds given in fight.

“Here, take this essence of elecampane;

Rise up, Sir George, and fight again.”

Miracle Play of St. George.

Elector

A prince who had a vote in the election of the Emperor of Germany. Napoleon broke up the old German empire, and the college of electors fell asunder.

The Great Elector. Frederick William of Brandenburg (1620—1688).

Electricity

(from the Greek elektron, amber). Thales (B.C. 600) observed that amber when rubbed attracted light substances, and this observation followed out has led to the present science of electricity.

“Bright amber shines on his electric throne.”

Darwin: Economy of Nature, i. 2.

Negative and positive electricity. Two opposite conditions of the electric state of bodies. At one time electricity was considered a fluid, as heat was thought to be caloric. Everybody was thought to have a certain quantity. If a body contained more than its normal quantity it was said to be positive, if less, it was said to be negative in this respect. Another theory was that there were two different electric fluids, which neutralised each other when they came in contact. Electricity is now supposed to be a mere condition, like heat and motion; but its energy is set in action by some molecular disturbance, such as friction, rupture, and chemical action. The old terms are still retained.

Electro—Biology

The science of electricity as it is connected with the phenomena of living beings. Also the effect of “animal magnetism” on living creatures, said to produce sleep, stupor, anesthesia, etc.

Electro—Chemistry

That branch of chemistry which treats of electricity as an energy affecting chemical changes.

Electuary

Something to be licked up, a medicine made “thick and slab,” which cannot be imbibed like a liquid nor bolted like a pill, but which must be licked up like honey. (Greek, ek—leicho.)

Eleemosynam

Eleemosynam sepulcri patris tui (Alms on your father's grave). (See Meat.)

Elegant Extracts

The 85th Foot, remodelled in 1813, after the numerous court—martials which then occurred. The officers of the regiment were removed, and officers drafted from other regiments were substituted in their places. The 85th is now called the “Second Battalion of the Shropshire Light Infantry.” The first battalion is the old 23rd.

At the University of Cambridge, in the good old times, some few men were too good to be plucked and not good enough for the poll: a line was drawn below the poll—list, and these lucky unfortunates, allowed to pass, were nick—named the Elegant Extracts. There was a similar limbo in the honour—list, called the Gulf, in allusion to a Scripture passage well known and thus parodied, “Between them [in the poll] and us [in the honour—lists] there is a great gulf fixed,” etc.

Elegiacs

(See Hexameters and Pentameters.)

Elements

according to Aristotle. Aristotle maintained that there are four elements — fire, air, water, and earth, and this assertion has been the subject of very unwise ridicule. Modern chemists maintain the same fact, but

have selected four new words for the four old ones, and instead of the term “element,” use “material forms.” We say that matter exists under four forms: the imponderable (caloric), the gaseous (air), the liquid (water), and the solid (earth), and this is all the ancient philosophers meant by their four elements or elemental forms. It was Empedocles of Sicily who first maintained that fire, air, earth, and water are the four elements; but he called them Zeus, Hera, Goea, and Poseidon. (Latin, eleo for oleo. Vossius says: ab ant. eleo pro oleo, i.e. cresco, quod omnia crescant ac nascantur.” Latin, elementum. to grow out of.)

“Let us the great philosopher [Aristotle] attend. . . .

His elements, `Earth, Water, Air, and Fire; . . . Tell why these simple elements are four;

Why just so many; why not less or more?”

Blackmore: Creation, v.

The first of these forms — viz. “Caloric,” or the imponderable matter of heat, is now attributed to a mere condition of matter, like motion.

Elephant

The elephant which supports the world is called “Muha—pudma,” and the the tortoise which supports the elephant is called “Chukwa.” In some of the Eastern mythologies we are told that the world stands on the backs of eight elephants, called “Achtequedjams.”

Elephant

(The). Symbol of temperance, eternity, and sovereignty. (See White Elephant.)

“L'eternité est désignée sur une médaille de I'empereur Philippe, par un elephant sur lequel est monté un petit garcon armé de fléches.” — Noel: Dictionnaire de la Fable, vol. i. p. 506.

Elephant

(See White Elephant .)

Only an elephant can bear an elephant's load. An Indian proverb: Only a great man can do the work of a great man; also, the burden is more than I can bear; it is a load fit for an elephant.

Elephant Paper

A large—sized drawing—paper, measuring 20 inches by 23. There is also a “double elephant paper,” measuring 40 inches by 26 3/4.

Elephant and Castle

A public—house sign at Newington, said to derive its name from the skeleton of an elephant dug up near Battle Bridge in 1714. A flint—headed spear lay by the remains, whence it is conjectured that the creature was killed by the British in a fight with the Romans. (The Times.)

There is another public—house with the same sign in St. Pancras, probably intended to represent an elephant with a howdah.

Elephanta

in Bombay, is so called from a stone elephant, which carried a tiger on its back, and formerly stood near the landing—place on the south side of the island. It has now nearly disappeared. The natives call it Gahrapooree (cave town), from its cave, 130 feet long. (Chow—chow.)

Elephantine

(4 syl.). Heavy and ungainly, like an elephant. In Rome, the registers of the senate, magistrates, generals, and emperors were called elephantine books, because they were made of ivory. In geology, the elephantine period was that noted for its numerous large thick—skinned animals. The disease called elephantiasis is when the limbs swell and look like those of an elephant more than those of a human being.

Eleusinian Mysteries

The religious rites in honour of Demeter or Ceres, performed at Eleusis, in Attica.

Elevation of the Host

(The). The celebrant lifting up the “consecrated wafers" above his head, that the people may see the paten and adore “the Host" while his back is turned to the congregation.

Eleven (Anglo—Saxon, ændlefene, aend = ain, lefene = lef, left). One left or one more after counting ten (the fingers of the two hands). Twelve is Twa lef (two left); all the other teens up to 20 represent 3, 4, 5, etc. + ten. It would seem that at one time persons did not count higher than twelve, but in a more advanced state they required higher numbers, and introduced the “teen” series, omitting eleven and twelve, which would be enteen and twateen.

Eleven Thousand Virgins

Ursula being asked in marriage by a pagan prince, fled towards Rome with her eleven thousand virgins. At Cologne they were all massacred by a party of Huns, and even to the present hour “their bones” are exhibited to visitors through windows in the wall. Maury says that Ursula's handmaid was named Undecimella, and that the legend of her eleven thousand virgins rose out of this name. (Légendes Pieuses.)

Eleventh Hour

(At the). Just in time (Matt. xx. 1).

Elf

(plural, Elves, Anglo—Saxon, oelf). Properly, a mountain fay, but more loosely applied to those airy creatures that dance on the grass or sit in the leaves of trees and delight in the full moon. They have fair golden hair, sweet musical voices, and magic harps. They have a king and queen, marry and are given in marriage. They impersonate the shimmering of the air, the felt but indefinable melody of Nature, and all the little prettinesses which a lover of the country sees, or thinks he sees, in hill and dale, copse and meadow, grass and tree, river and moonlight. Spenser says that Prometheus called the man he made “Elfe,” who found a maid in the garden of Adonis, whom he called “Fay,” of “whom all Fayres spring.”

“Of these a mighty people shortly grew,

And puissant kings, which all the world war rayd, And to themselves all nations did subdue.”, Faërie Queene, ii. 9, stanza 70, etc.

Elf and Goblin, as derived from Guelf and Ghibelline, is mentioned in Johnson (article GOBLIN), though the words existed long before those factions arose. Heylin (in his Cosmography, p. 130) tells us that some supported that opinion in 1670. Skinner gives the same etymology.

Red Elf. In Iceland, a person gaily dressed is called a red elf (raud âlfr), in allusion to a superstition that dwarfs wear scarlet or red clothes. (Nial's Sagas.) Black elves are evil spirits; white elves, good ones.

Elf—arrows

Arrow—heads of the neolithic period. The shafts of these arrows were reeds, and the heads were pieces of flint, carefully sharpened, and so adjusted as to detach themselves from the shaft and remain in the wounded body. At one time they were supposed to be shot by elves at people and cattle out of malice or revenge.

“There every herd by sad experience knows

How, winged with fate, their elf—shot arrows fly, When the sick ewe her summer food forgoes, Or stretched on earth the heart—smit heifers lie.”Collins: Popular Superstitions.

Elf—fire

The ignis — fatuus. The name of this elf is Will o' the Wisp, Jack o' lanthorn, Peg—a—lantern, or Kit o' the canstick (candlestick).

Elf—land

The realm ruled over by Oberon, King of Faëry. King James says: “I think it is liker Virgilis Campi Elysii nor anything that ought to be believed by Christians.” (Dæmonology, iii. 5.)

Elf—locks

Tangled hair. It is said that one of the favourite amusements of Queen Mab is to tie people's hair in knots. When Edgar impersonates a madman, “he elfs all his hair in knots.” (Lear, ii. 3.)

“This is that very Mab

That plats the manes of horses in the night, And bakes [? cakes] the elf—locks in foul sluttish hairs.” Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet, i. 4.

Elf—marked

Those born with a natural defect, according to the ancient Scottish superstition, are marked by the elves for mischief. Queen Margaret called Richard III. —

“Thou elfish—marked, abortive, rooting hog!” —

Shakespeare: Richard III., i. 3.

Elf—shot

Afflicted with some unknown disease, and supposed to have been wounded by an elfin arrow. The rinderpest would, in the Middle Ages, have been ascribed to elf—shots. (See Elf—Arrows.)

Elfin

The first fairy king. He ruled over India and America. (Middle Age Romance.)

Elgin Marbles

A collection of ancient bas—reliefs and statutes made by Lord Elgin, and sent to England in 1812. They are chiefly fragments of the Parthenon at Athens, and were purchased by the British Government for £35,000, to be placed in the British Museum (1816). (Elgin pronounced `gin,' as in begin.)

Elia

A nom de plume adopted by Charles Lamb. (Essays of Elia.)

“The adoption of this signature was purely accidental.Lamb's first contribution to the London Magazine was a description of the old South—Sea House, where he had passed a few months' novitiate as a clerk, ... and remembering the name of a gay light—hearted foreigner, who fluttered there at the time, substituted his name for his own.” — Talfourd.

Eliab

in the satire of Absalom and Achitophel, by Dryden and Tate, is meant for Henry Bennet, Earl of Arlington. Eliab was one of the chiefs of the Gadites who joined David at Ziklag. (1 Chron. xii. 9.)

“Hard the task to do Eliab right;

Long with the royal wanderer [Charles II.] he roved, And firm in all the turns of fortune proved.” Absalom and Achitophel, part ii. 986—8.

Eliakim

Jehoiakim, King of Judah. (B.C. 635, 610—598.)

Elidure

(3 syl.). A legendary king of Britain, advanced to the throne in place of his elder brother, Arthgallo, supposed by him to be dead. Arthgallo, after a long exile, returned to his country, and Elidure resigned to him the throne. Wordsworth has a poem on the subject.

Eligibles

and Detrimentals. Sons which are socially good and bad parties, to be introduced to daughters with a view of matrimony.

“The County Families of the United Kingdom is useful to all who are concerned with questions of precedence, and especially useful to mothers who desire to distinguish between `eligibles' and `detrimentals.' ” — Notes and Queries, February 1st, 1886, p. 119.

Elijah's Melons

Certain stones on Mount Carmel are so called. (See Stanley, Sinai and Palestine.) Similar formations are those called “The Virgin Mary's Peas” (q.v.). Compare also the Bible story of Lot's wife.

The story is that the owner of the land refused to supply the wants of the prophet, and consequently his melons were transformed into stones.

Eliminate

(4 syl.). To turn out of doors; to turn out of an equation everything not essential to its conditions. (Latin, e limine, out of doors.)

Eliot

(George). A nom de plume of Marian Evans (Mrs. Cross), author of Adam Bede, etc. (1820—1880).

Eliott's Tailors

The 15th Hussars, now the 15th [King's] Hussars, previously called the 15th, or king's own royal light dragoon guards. In 1759 Lieutenant—Colonel Eliott enlisted a large number of tailors on strike into a cavalry regiment modelled after the Prussian hussars. This regiment so highly distinguished themselves, that George III. granted them the honour of being called “the king's royal.”

Elissa

Dido, Queen of Carthage. A Phoenician name signifying heroic, brave.

“Nec me meminisse pigebit Elissæ.”

Virgil: Æneid, iv. 335.

Dido was the niece of the Bible Jezebel. Ithobal I., king of Tyre (1 Kings xvi. 13), had for children Belus, Margenus, and Jezebel. Of these Belus was the father of Pygmalion and Dido. Hence Jezebel was Dido's aunt.

Elissa

(deficiency or parsimony; Greek, ellipsis). Step—sister of Medina and Perissa, but they could never agree upon any subject. (Spenser: Faërie Queene, book ii.)

Elivager

(4 syl.). A cold venomous stream which issued from Niflheim, and in the abyss called the Ginnunga Gap, hardening into layer upon layer of ice. (Scandinavian mythology.)

Elixir of Life

A ruby, supposed by the alchemists to prolong life indefinitely. The tincture for transmuting metals was also called an elixir. (Arabic, el or al iksir, the iksir (? coction).) (See Amrita.)

“He that has once the Flower of the Sun,

The perfect ruby which we call Elixir ...

Can confer honour, love, respect, long life, Give safety, valour, yea, and victory,

To whom he will. In eight—and—twenty days I'll make an old man of fourscore a child.

Ben Jonson: The Alchemist, ii. 1.

Elizabeth

had pet names for all her favourite courtiers; q.e.:

The mother of Sir John Norris she called “My own Crow.” Burghley was her “Spirit.”

Mountjoy she termed her “Kitchenmaid in Ireland.”

Elizabeth

has given more variants than any other Christian name: Eliza, Isa, Isabel, Lizzy, Elizabeth, Elisabetta, Betty, Bettina, Bess, Bessy, etc.

Elizabeth of Hungary

(St.). Patron saint of queens, being herself a queen. (1207—1231.)

Elizabethan

After the style of things in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Elizabethan architecture is a mixture of Gothic and Italian, prevalent in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I.

Ell

(Anglo—Saxon eln, an ell). It is said that the English ell was the length of Henry I.'s arm, but the ordinary length of a man's arm is about a yard.

Give him an inch, and he'll take an ell. Give him a little licence, and he will take great liberties, or make great encroachments. The ell was no definite length. The English ell was 45 inches, the Scotch ell only 37 inches, while the Flemish ell was three—quarters of a yard and a French ell a yard and a half. This indefinite measure expresses the uncertainty of the length to which persons will go to whom you give the inch of liberty. Some will go the French ell; while others of more modesty or more limited desires will be satisfied with the shorter measures.

Ell—wand

(The King's). The group of stars called “Orion's Belt.”

“The King's Ellwand, now foolishly termed the `Belt of Orion.' ” — Hogg: Tales, etc.

Ella

or Alla. King of Northumberland, who married Cunstance. (Chaucer: Man of Lawes Tale.) (See Cunstance.)

Elliot

In the Black Dwarf, by Sir Walter Scott, are seven of that name, viz. Halbert or Hobbie Elliot, of the Heugh—foot (a farmer); Mrs. Elliot, his grandmother; John and Harry, his brothers; and Lilias, Jean, and Arnot, his sisters.

Ellyllon

The souls of the ancient Druids, which, being too good for hell, and not good enough for heaven, are permitted to wander upon earth till the judgment day, when they will be admitted to a higher state of being

(Welsh mythology.)

Elmo's Fire

(St.). Comazants, or electric lights occasionally seen on the masts of ships before and after a storm; so called by the Spaniards because St. Elmo is with them the patron saint of sailors. (See Castor And Pollux.)

“Sudden, breaking on their raptured sight,

Appeared the splendour of St. Elmo's light.” Hoole: Orlando Furioso, book ix.

Elohim

The genus of which ghosts, Chemosh, Dagon, Baal, Jahveh, etc., were species. The ghost or spectre which appeared to Saul (1 Sam. xxviii. 14—20) is called Elohim. “I see Elohim coming up out of the earth,” said the witch; and Saul asked, “What is HE like?” (Huxley: Nineteenth Century, March, 1886.)

“The word Elohim is often applied in the Bible to the gods of the Gentiles.” — Lenormant: Beginnings of History, chap. vii.

In theology, Elohim (the plural of Eloah) means the “Lord of Hosts,” or Lord of all power and might. Jehovah signifies rather the God of mercy and forgiveness. Hence, Elohim is used to express the God of creation, but Jehovah the God of the covenant of mercy.

“Elohim designates the fulness of Divine power.” — Religious Encyclopoedia.

Elohistic

and Jehovistic Scriptures. The Pentateuch is supposed by Bishop Colenso and many others to have been written at two widely different periods, because God is invariably called Elohim in some paragraphs, while in others He is no less invariably called Jehovah. The Elohistic paragraphs, being more simple, more primitive, more narrative, and more pastoral, are said to be the older; while the Jehovistic paragraphs indicate a knowledge of geography and history, seem to exalt the priestly office, and are altogether of a more elaborate character. Those who maintain this theory think that some late transcriber has compiled the two Scriptures and combined them into one, much the same as if the four Gospels were collated and welded together into a single one. To give one or two examples: — Gen. i. 27, it is said, “So God (Elohim) created man in His own image, (both) male and female”; whereas, in the next chapter (21—24), it is said that God (Jehovah) caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and that He then took from the sleeping man a rib and made it a woman; and therefore (says the writer) a man shall cleave unto his wife, and the two be considered one flesh. Again (Gen. vi. 19) Elohim tells Noah, “Two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, a male and a female”; and (vii. 9) “There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God

(Elohim) commanded Noah.” In Gen. vii. 2 Jehovah tells Noah he is to make a distinction between clean and unclean beasts, and that he is to admit the former by sevens and the latter by twos. In the first example, the priestly character is indicated by the moral, and in the latter by the distinction made between clean and unclean animals. We pass no opinion on this theory, but state it as fairly as we can in a few lines.

Eloi

(St.). Patron saint of artists and smiths. He was a famous worker in gold and silver, and was made Bishop of Noyon in the reign of Dagobert. Probably the St. Eloi of Chaucer's Prioress was St. Louis (St. 'Loy)

“Ther was also a nonne, a prioresse,

That of hire smylyng was ful symple and coy! Hire grettest ooth was but by Seynt Loy.”

Chaucer: Canterbury Tales, Prol. 18—20.

We find reference to “Seynt Loy” again in verse 7143.

Eloquent

The old man eloquent. Isocrates, the Greek orator. When he heard that Grecian liberty was extinguished by the battle of Chærone'a, he died of grief.

“That dishonest victory

At Chæronea, fatal to liberty,

Killed with report that old man eloquent.”

Milton: Sonnets (To Lady Margaret Ley).

The eloquent doctor. Peter Aureolus, Archbishop of Aix, a schoolman.

Elshender

or Cannie Elshie. The Black Dwarf, alias Sir Edward Mauley, alias the Recluse, alias the Wise Wight of Mucklestane Moor. (Sir Walter Scott: The Black Dwarf.)

Elsie

The daughter of Gottlieb, a farm tenant of Prince Henry of Hoheneck. The prince was suffering severely from some malady, and was told that he would be cured if any maiden would give her life as a substitute. Elsie vowed to do so, and accompanied the prince from Germany to Salerno. Here Elsie surrendered herself to Lucifer, but was rescued by the prince, who married her. His health was perfectly re—established by the pilgrimage. (Longfellow: The Golden Legend. )

Elves

(See under Elf .)

Elvidna

The hall of the goddess Hel (q.v.).

Elvino

A rich farmer, in love with Amina, the somnambulist. The fact of Amina being found in the bed of Count Rodolpho the day before the wedding, induces Elvino to reject her hand and promise marriage to Liza; but he is soon undeceived — Amina is found to be innocent, and Liza to have been the paramour of another; so Amina and Elvino are wedded under the happiest auspices. (Bellini's opera, La Sonnambula. ) (See Liza.)

Elvira (Donna). A lady deceived by Don Giovanni, who deluded her into a liaison with his valet, Leporello. (Mozart's opera, Don Giovanni.)

Elvira. A lady who loved Ernani, the robber—captain, and head of a league against Don Carlos, afterwards Charles V. of Spain. She was betrothed to Don Ruy Gomez de Silva, an old Spanish grandee, whom she detested, and Ernani resolved to rescue her; but it so happened that the king himself fell in love with her, and tried to win her. When Silva learned this, he joined the league; but the king, overhearing the plot in concealment, arrested the conspirators. Elvira interceded for them, and the king granted them a free pardon. When Ernani was on the point of wedding Elvira, Ernani, being summoned to death by Silva, stabbed himself. (Verdi's opera of Ernani.)

Elvish

or Elfish. Irritable, peevish, spiteful; full of little mischievous ways, like the elves. Our superstitious forefathers thought such persons were actually “possessed” by elves; and elvish—marked is marked by elves or fairies.

“Thou elvish—marked, abortive, rooting hog.”

Shakespeare: Richard III., i. 3.

Elysium

Elysian Fields. The Paradise or Happy Land of the Greek poets. Elysian (the adjective) means happy, delightful.

“O'er which were shadowy cast Elysian gleams.” Thomson: Castle of Indolence, i.44.

“Would take the prisoned soul,

And lap it in Elysium.”

Milton: Comus, 261—2.

Elzevir

An edition of a classic author, published and printed by the family of Elzevir, and said to be immaculate. Virgil, one of the master—pieces, is certainly incorrect in some places. (1592—1626.)

Em

The unit of measure in printing. The standard is a pica M; and the width of a line is measured by the number of such M's that would stand side by side in the “stick.” This dictionary is in double columns, each column equals 11 pica M's in width, and one M is allowed for the space between. Some work is made up to 10 1/2, 20 1/2, etc., ems; and for the half—em printers employ the letter N, which is in width half a letter M. As no letter is wider than the M, and all narrower letters are fractions of it, this letter forms a very convenient standard for printing purposes.

Embargo

To lay an embargo on him or it is to impose certain conditions before you give your consent. It is a Portuguese and Spanish word, meaning an order issued by authority to prevent ships leaving port for a fixed period.

Embarras de Richesse

More matter than can be used; overcrowded with facts or material. A publisher or editor who is overwhelmed with MSS., or contributions; an author who has more incidents or illustrations in support of his theory than he can produce, etc., have an embarras de richesse.

Ember Days are the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday of Ember Weeks (q.v. ).

Ember Weeks

A corruption of quatuor tempora, through the Dutch quatemper and German quatember. The four times are after Quadragesima Sunday, Whit Sunday, Holyrood Day (September), and St. Lucia's Day

(December). The supposition that persons sat in embers (or ashes) on these days is without foundation.

Emblem is a picture with a hidden meaning, the meaning is “cast into" or “inserted in” the visible device. Thus, a balance is an emblem of justice, white of purity, a sceptre of sovereignty. (Greek, en—ballo, which gives the Greek emblema.) (See Apostles, Patron Saints.)

Some of the most common and simple emblems of the Christian Church are —

A chalice. The eucharist. The circle inscribed in an equilateral triangle. To denote the co—equality and co—eternity of the Trinity. A cross. The Christian's life and conflict; the death of Christ for man's redemption.

A crown. The reward of the perseverance of the saints. A dove. The Holy Ghost.

A hand from the clouds. To denote God the Father. A lamb, fish, pelican, etc., etc. The Lord Jesus Christ. A phoenix. The resurrection.

Emblems of the Jewish Temple

(See Exod. xxv. 30—32; Rev. i. 12—20.)

Golden candlestick. The Church. Its seven lights, the seven spirits of God. (Rev. iv. 6.) The shewbread. The twelve loaves the twelve tribes of Israel. Represented in the Gospel by the twelve apostles.

The incense of sweet spices. Prayer, which rises to heaven as incense. (Rev. viii. 3, 4.) The Holy of Holies. The nation of the Jews as God's peculiar people. When the veil which separated it from the temple was “rent in twain,” it signified that thenceforth Jews and Gentiles all formed one people of God.

Embryo

means that which swells inside something (Greek, en—bru'o, which gives the Greek embruon); hence the child in the womb; the rudiment in a plant before it shows itself in a bud; an idea not developed, etc.

Emelye

The sister—in—law of “Duke Theseus,” beloved by the two knights, Palamon and Arcyte, the former of whom had her to wife. It is of this lady the poet says, “Up roos the sun, and up roos Emelye” (v. 2275).

“This passeth yeer by yeer, and day and day,

Till it fel oonës in a morne of May,

That Emelie, that fairer was to scene

Than is the lilie on hire stalkës grene,

And fresscher than the May with flourës newe ... Er it was day, as sche was wont to do,

Sche was arisen.”

Chaucer: Canterbury Tales (The Knighte's Tale).

Emerald Isle

Ireland. This term was first used by Dr. Drennan (1754—1820), in the poem called Erin. Of course, it refers to the bright green verdure of the island.

“An emerald set in the ring of the sea.”

Cushlamachree.

“Nor one feeling of vengeance presume to defile

The cause or the men of the Emerald Isle.”

E. J. Drennan: Erin.

Emeralds

According to tradition, if a serpent fixes its eyes upon an emerald it becomes blind. (Ahmed ben Abdalaziz: Treatise on Jewels. )

Emergency

A sudden emergency is something which starts suddenly into view, or which rises suddenly out of the current of events. (Latin, e—mergo, to rise out of “the water.”)

Emergency Man (An). One engaged for some special service, as in Irish evictions.

Emeute

(French). A seditious rising or small riot. Literally, a moving—out. (Latin, e—moveo.)

Emile

(2 syl.). The French form of Emilius. The hero of Jean Jacques Rousseau's novel of the same name, and his ideal of a perfectly educated young man.

Emilia

(in Shakespeare's Othello). Wife of Iago. She is induced by her husband to purloin Desdemona's handkerchief, which Iago conveys to Cassio's chamber, and tells the Moor that Desdemona had given it to the lieutenant as a love—token. At the death of Desdemona, Emilia (who, till then, never suspected the real state of the case) reveals the fact, and Iago kills her.

Emilia. The sweetheart of Peregrine Pickle, in Smollett's novel.

Emilie

(The divine), to whom Voltaire wrote verses, was Madame Châtelet, with whom he lived at Circy for ten years.

Emmet

contracted into Ant thus, Em't, ent, ant (Anglo—Saxon, æmete).

“A bracelet made of emmets' eyes.”

Drayton: Court of Fairies.

Emne

Your emne Christen (Bosworth), i.e. your even or fellow Christian. Shakespeare (Hamlet, v. 1) has “your even Christian.” (Anglo—Saxon, Emne—cristen, fellow—Christian.)

Emolument

Literally, that which comes out of the mill. (Latin, e—mola.) It originally meant toll on what was ground. (See Grist.)

Emotion

Literally, the movement of the mind brought out by something which affects it. The idea is this. The mind, like electricity, is passive till something occurs to affect it, when it becomes roused; the active state thus produced is its emotion, and the result thereof is passion or affection. (Latin, e—moveo.)

Empanel

or Impanel is to write the names of a jury on a panel, or piece of parchment. (French, panneau, i.e. pan ds peau, piece of skin.)

Empannel

To put the pack—saddle on a beast of burden.

“Saddle Rozinante, and empannel thine ass.” —

Don Quixote, ii. 326.

Empedocles

(4 syl.) of Sicily. A disciple of Pythagoras According to Lucian, he threw himself into the crater of Etua, that persons might suppose he was returned to the gods, but Etna threw out his sandal, and destroyed

the illusion. (Horacc Ars Poetica, 404.) (See Cleombrotos.)

“He who, to be deemed

A god, leaped fondly into Etna flames,

Empedocles.”

Milton: Paradise Lost, iii. 471

Emperor

Emperor, not for myself, but for my people. The maxim of Hadrian, the Roman emperor (117—138).

Emperor of Believers

Omar I., father—in—law of Mahomet, and second caliph of the Mussulmans (581—644).

Emperor of the Mountains

king of the woods, and lord of the highways from Florence to Naples. A title assumed by Peter the Calabrian, a famous bandit—chief (1812).

Empire City

(The). New York, the great commercial city of the United States.

Empire of Reason; the Empire of Truth

etc., i.e. reason or truth as the governing principle. Empire is the Latin imper'ïum, a jurisdiction, and an emperor is one who holds command.

Empirics

Quacks. A school of medicine founded by Serapion of Alex. andria, who contended that it is not necessary to obtain a knowledge of the nature and functions of the body in order to treat diseases, but that experience is the surest and best guide. They were opposed to the Dogmatics (q.v.). (Greek, peirao, to try, which gives the Greek empeiria, experience.)

“We must not

So stain our judgment, or corrupt our hope, To prostitute our past—cure malady

To empirics.

Shakespeare: All's Well That Ends Well, ii. 1.

Employe

(French). One in our employ; such as clerks, shopmen, servants, etc. Employée, a female employed by a master. Employee, either sex.

“In Italy, all railroad employes are subjected to rigorous examination.” — Harlan: Eyesight, v.

64.

“All these employées should be women of character.” — Macmillan's Magazine (July, 1862, p. 257).

Empson

The favourite flageolet—player of Charles II., introduced into Scott's Peveril of the Peak.

“Julian could only bow obedience, and follow Empson, who was the same person that played so rarely on the flageolet.” — Chap. xxx.

Empty as Air

(Ang.—Sax., aemtig.)

“Dead men's cries to fill the empty air”

Shakespeare: 2 Henry VI., v. 2

Empty Champagne Bottles

Fel. low—commoners at Cambridge used to be so called, their academical dress being a gaudy purple and silver gown, resembling the silver foil round the neck of a champagne bottle. Very

few of these wealthy magnates took honours.

The nobleman's gown was silk.

Empty Chance

A chance not worth calculating on. The ace of dice was, by the Greeks and Romans, left empty, because the number of dice was equal to the number of aces thrown. As ace is the lowest chance, the empty chance was the least likely to win.

Empyrean

According to Ptolemy, there are five heavens, the last of which is pure elemental fire and the seat of deity; this fifth heaven is called the empyrean (from the Greek en—pur, in fire). (See Heaven.)

“Now had the Aln ighty Father from above,

From the pure empyrean where He sits

High throned above all height, bent down his eye.” Milton: Paradise Lost, iii. 56—58.

And again, book vi. 833:

“The steadfast empyrean shook without.”

En Evidence

(French). To the fore.

“Mr. — has been much en evidence of late in the lobby; but as he has no seat, his chance of being in the ministry is very problematical.” — Newspaper paragraph, February, 1886.

En Garcon

As a bachelor. “To take me en garcon,” without ceremony, as a bachelor fares in ordinary life.

En Masse

The whole lot just as it stands; the whole.

En Rapport

In harmony with; in sympathetic lines with.

En Route

On the way; on the road or journey

Enalio—saurians

(Greek, sea—lizards). A group of fossil saurians, including the Ichthyosâur, Plesiosaur, Sauropterygy, etc., etc.

Encelados

The most powerful of the giants that conspired against Zeus (Jupiter). The king of gods and men cast him down, and threw Mount Etna over him. The poets say that the flames of this volcano arise from the breath of this giant. The battle—field of his contest was Phlegra, in Macedonia.

“So fierce Enceladus in Phlegra stood.”

Hoole: Jerusalem Delivered.

“I tell you, younglings, not Encelados,

With all his threatning band of Typhon's brood ... Shall seize this prey out of his father's hands.” Shakespeare: Titus Andronicus, iv. 2.

Enchanted Castles

De Saint Foix says that women and girls were subject to violence whenever they passed by an abbey quite as much as when they approached a feudal castle. When these victims were sought for and demanded back, the monks would sustain a siege rather than relinquish them; and, if close pressed, would bring to the walls some sacred relic, which so awed the assailants that they would desist rather than incur the

risk of violating such holy articles. This, he says, is the origin of enchanters, enchantments, and enchanted castles. (Historical Essays. )

Enchanter

is one who sings incantations. (Latin, in—canto, to sing over or against some one.)

Encomium

The Greek komos is a revel in honour of [Bacchus], in which the procession marches from komi to it kome: i.e. village to village. En—komion is the hymn sung in these processions in honour of Bacchus; hence, praise, eulogy

Encore

(French). Our use of this word is unknown to the French, who use the word bis (twice) if they wish a thing to be repeated. The French, however, say encore un tasse (another cup), encore une fois (still once more). It is strange how we have perverted almost every French word that we have naturalised. (See English French.)

Encratites

(4 syl.). A sect of the second century, who condemned marriage, forbade eating flesh or drinking wine, and rejected all the luxuries and comforts of life as “things sinful.” The sect was founded by Tatian, a heretic of the third century, who compiled from four other books what he called a Diatessaron — an heretical gospel. (See Eusebius, book iv. chap. xxix.) (Greek, egcrates, self—mastery.)

This heretic must not be confounded with Tatian the philosopher, a disciple of Justin Martyr, who lived in the second century.

Encroach

means literally to put on a hook, or to hook on. Those who hook on a little here and a little there. (French, en croc, on a hook.)

End

(Ang.—Sax, ende, verb endian.)

At my wits' end. At a standstill how to proceed farther; at a non—plus. He is no end of a fellow. A capital chap; a most agreeable companion; an A 1 [A one] (q.v.). He is an “all round” man, and therefore has no end.

To be [one's] end. The cause or agent of [his] death.

This apoplexie will be his end.”

Shakespeare: 2 Henry IV., iv. 4.

To begin at the wrong end. To attempt to do something unmethodically. This is often done in education, where children are taught grammar before they are taught words. No one on earth would teach his child to talk in such a manner. First talk anyhow, and when words are familiar, teach the grammar of sentences. The allusion may be to thread wound on a card or bobbin; if anyone attempts to unwind it at the wrong end, he will entangle the thread and be unable to unwind it.

To come to the end of one's tether. To do all that one has ability or liberty to do. The allusion is to an animal tied to a rope; he can graze only so far as his tether can be carried out.

To have it at my finger's end. To be perfectly au fait; to remember perfectly, and with ease; tanquam unguis scire. The allusion is to work done with the fingers (such as knitting), which needs no thought after it has become familiar.

To have it on [or at ] the tip of my tongue. (See Tip Of My Tongue.) A rope's end. A short length of rope bound at the end with thread, and used for punishing the refractory. A shoemaker's end. A length of thread pointed with a bristle, and used by shoemakers.

My latter end. At the close of life. “At the latter end,” towards the close.

“At the latter end of a dinner.”

Shakespeare: All's Well, etc., ii. 5.

On end. Erect.

To put an end to. To terminate or cause to terminate. West end, East end, etc. The quarter or part of a town east or west of the central or middle part.

End—irons

Two movable iron cheeks or plates, still used in cooking—stoves to enlarge or contract the grate at pleasure. The term explains itself, but must not be mistaken for andirons or “dogs.”

End Paper

The blank fly—leaves of a book.

End of the World

(The). According to rabbinical mythology, the world is to last six thousand years. The reasons assigned are (1) because the name Jehova contains six letters; (2) because the Hebrew letter m occurs six times in the book of Genesis; (3) because the patriarch Enoch, who was taken to heaven without dying, was the sixth generation from Adam (Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch); (4) because God created the world in six days; (5) because six contains three binaries — the first 2000 years were for the law of nature, the next 2000 years the written law, and the last 2000 the law of grace.

Seven would suit this fancy quite as well: there are seven days in a week; Jehovah contains seven letters; and Enoch was the seventh generation of the race of man; and the first two binaries were not equal periods.

Ends

To burn the candle at both ends. To be like a man on double business found, who both neglects. Of course, no candle could burn at both ends, unless held horizontally, as the lower end would be extinguished by the melted wax or tallow.

To make two or both ends meet. To make one's income cover expenses; to keep out of debt. The allusion is to a belt somewhat too tight. The French say joindre les deux bouts.

Endemic Pertaining to a locality. An endemic disease is one common to a particular district, from which it shows no tendency to spread. Thus intermittent fevers are endemic in marshy places.

Endorse

I endorse that statement. I accept it; I fully accord with it. The allusion is to the commercial practice of writing your name on the back of a bill of exchange or promissory note if you choose to make yourself responsible for it. (Latin, in—dorsum, on the back.)

Endymion

in Greek mythology, is the setting sun with which the moon is in love. Endymion was condemned to endless sleep and everlasting youth, and Selene kisses him every night on the Latmian hills.

“The moon sleeps with Endymion,

And would not be awaked.”

Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice, v. 1.

Enemy

How goes the enemy? or What says the enemy? What o'clock is it? Time is the enemy of man, especially of those who are behind time.

Enfant Terrible

(An) [lit., a terrible child]. A moral or social nuisance.

Enfield Rifle So called from the factory at Enfield where it is made.

Enfilade

(French) means literally to spin out; to put thread in [a needle], as enfiler une aiguille; to string beads by putting them on a thread, as enfiler des perles. Soldiers being compared to thread, we get the following metaphors: to go through a place as thread through a needle — to string artillery by placing it in a line and directing it against an enemy; hence, to scour or rake with shot.

England

Verstegan quaintly says that Egbert was “chiefly moved” to call his kingdom England “in respect of Pope Gregory's changing the name of Engelisce into Angellyke. ” And this “may have moved our kings upon their best gold coins to set the image of an angel.” (Restitution of Decayed Intelligence in Antiquities concerning ... the English Nation, p. 147.)

The Angles migrated from the east of the Elbe to Schleswig (between the Jutes and the Saxons). They passed over in great numbers to Britain during the 5th century, and in time established the kingdoms of the heptarchy.

England Expects that Every Man will do his Duty

The parole signalled by Horatio Nelson to his fleet before the battle of Trafalgar.

England's Darling

Hereward the Wake, in the time of William the Conqueror. The “Camp of Refuge” was established in the Isle of Ely, and the Earl of Morcar joined it in 1071. It was blockaded for three months by William, and Hereward (3 syl.) with some of his followers escaped.

Englentyne

(3 syl.). The Nonne or Prioress of Chaucer's pilgrims. An admirable character sketch. (Canterbury Tales; Prologue, 118—164.) (See Eloi.)

English French

A kind of perversity seems to pervade many of the words which we have borrowed from the French. Thus curate (French vicaire); Vicar (French curé).

Encore (French bis).

Epergne (French surtout); Surtout (French pardessus). Screw (French vis), whereas the French écrou we call a nut; and our vice is étau in French. Some still say à l'outrance (French à outrance).

We say double entendre, the French à deux ententes.

The reader will easily call to mind other examples.

Englishman

The national nickname of an Englishman is “a John Bull.” The nation, taken in the aggregate, is nicknamed “John Bull.” The French nickname for an Englishman is “Godam.” (See Bull.)

Englishman's Castle

His house is so called, because so long as a man shuts himself up in his own house, no bailiff can break through the door to arrest him or seize his goods. It is not so in Scotland.

E'nid

The daughter and only child of Yniol, and wife of Prince Geraint, one of the Knights of the Round Table. Ladies called her “Enid the Fair,” but the people named her “Enid the Good.” (Idylls of the King; Geraint and Enid.)

Englightened Doctor

(The). Raymond Lully, of Palma, one of the most distinguished men of the thirteenth century. (1234—1315.)

Enniskillens

The 6th Dragoons; instituted 1689, on account of their brave defence of the town of Enniskillen, in favour of William III.

This cavalry regiment must not be confounded with the Inniskillings or Old 27th Foot, now called the “1st battalion of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers,” which is a foot regiment.

Ennius The Chaucer or father of Roman poets. (B.C. 239—169.)

The English Ennius. Layamon, who wrote a translation in Saxon of Wace's Brute. The French Ennius. Guillaume di Lorris (1235—65), author of the Romance of the Rose, called the Iliad of France. Sometimes Jehan de Meung (1260—1320), who wrote the continuation of the same romance, is so called.

The Spanish Ennius. Juan de Mena, born at Cordova. (1412—56.)

Enough

(Anglo—Saxon, genoh or genog. Enough! Stop now, you have said all that is needful.

Enough is as good as a feast.

Latin: “Illud satius est, quod satis est.”

French: “On est assez riche, quand on a le néessaire.” At one time Enow was used for numbers reckoned by tale, as: There are chairs enow, nails enow, men enow, etc.; but now enough does duty for both words, and enow is archaic.

Ensconce

(2 syl.). To hide; to put under cover. Literally, to cover with a sconce, or fort. (German, schanze, a fort; Danish, schans; Swedish, skans; Latin, abscondo, to hide.)

Ensemble

The tout ensemble. The general effect; the effect when the whole is regarded. (French.)

Ensign

(French, enseigner.)

Of ancient Athens. An owl.

America. The Stars and Stripes.

The British Navy. The Union Jack (q. v.). The white ensign (Royal Navy) is the banner of St. George with the Jack cantoned in the first quarter. The red ensign is that of the merchant service.

The blue ensign is that of the navy reserve.

China. A dragon.

Ancient Corinth. A flying horse — i.e. Pegasos. Ancient Danes. A raven.

Ancient Egypt. A bull, a crocodile, a vulture. England (in the Tudor era). St. George's cross. Ancient France. The cape of St. Martin; then the oriflamme. The Franks (Ripuarian). A sword with the point upwards. The Franks (Salian). A bull's head.

The Gauls. A wolf, bear, bull, cock. The ancient Lacedemonians. The Greek capital letter L (lambda). The ancient Messenians. The Greek letter mu (M).

The ancient Persians. A golden eagle with outstretched wings on a white field; a dove; the sun. The Paisdadian dynasty of Persia. A blacksmith's apron. (See Standard.)

The ancient Romans. An eagle for the legion; a wolf, a horse, a boar, etc. Romulus. A handful of hay or fern (manipulus).

The ancient Saxons. A trotting horse. The ancient Thebans. A sphinx.

The Turks. Horses' tails. The ancient Welsh. A dragon.

Ensilage

A method of preserving green fodder by storing it in mass under pressure in deep trenches cut in a dry soil.

Entail'

An entail is an estate cut from the power of a testator. The testator cannot bequeath it; it must go to the legal heirs. (French, en—tailler.)

Entangle

The Anglo—Saxon tan means a twig, and twigs smeared with birdlime were used for catching small birds, who were “en—tangled” or twigged.

Entelechy

The kingdom of Queen Quintessence in the famous satirical romance of Rabelais called the History of Gargantua and Pantagruel'. Pantagruel and his companions went thither in search of the Holy Bottle. It may be called the city of speculative science.

The word is used to express the realisation of a beau ideal. Lovers have preconceived notions of human perfections, and imagine that they see the realities in the person beloved, who is the entelechy of their beau ideal.

“O lumiere! enrichie

D'un feu divin, qui m'ard si vivement,

Pour me donner l'etre et le movement,

Etes—vous pas ma seul entelechie.”

Ronsard: sonnet 68 (1524—35).

Enter a House right Foot fore most

(Petronius). It was thought unlucky to enter a house or to leave one's chamber left foot foremost. Augustus was very superstitious on this point. Pythagoras taught that it is necessary to put the shoe on the right foot first. “When stretching forth your feet to have your sandals put on, first extend your right foot” (Protreptics of Iamblichus, symbol xii.). Iamblichus tells us this symbolised that man's first duty is reverence to the gods.

Entering Short

When bills are paid into a banker's hands to receive the amount when due, it is called “entering them short.” In this case, if the banker fails, the assignees must give them up. Bills in the hands of factors may be so entered.

Enthusiast

is one who believes that he himself is in God, or that God is in him (Greek, en theos). Our word inspired is very similar, being the Latin in spiritu (in the spirit).

Entire

Ale, in contradistinction to “cooper,” which is half ale and half porter. As Calvert's entire, etc.

Entre Nous

(French). Between you and me; in confidence. N.B. — One of the most common vulgarisms of the better class is “Between you and I.”

Entrée (To have the). To be eligible for invitations to State balls and concerts.

Entremets

[arn—tre—may ]. Sweet foods or kickshaws served at table between the main dishes, courses, or removes; literally, entre—mets (French), things put between. We now use two words, entrées and entremets, the former being subordinate animal foods handed round between the main dishes, and the latter being sweet made dishes.

Eolian

An Eolian harp. A box fitted with strings, like a fiddle. The strings, however, are not sounded by a bow, but by a current of air or wind passing over them.

“Awake, Eolian harp, awake,

And give to rapture all thy trembling strings.” Gray: Progress of Poetry, lines 1, 2.

Eolus

God of the winds. (Roman mythology.)

Epact

The excess of the solar over the lunar year, the former consisting of 365 days, and the latter of 354, or eleven days fewer. The epact of any year is the number of days from the last new moon of the old year to the 1st of the following January. (Greek, epactos, feminine epacte, adscititious.)

Epergne

(2 syl.). A large ornamental stand placed in the middle of a dining—table. It is generally said to be a French word, but the French call such an ornamental stand a surtout, strangely adopted by us to signify a frock—coat, which the French call a pardessus. The nearest French word is épargne, saving, as caisse

d'épargne, a savings bank; verb épargner, to spare or save. (See English French.)

Ephebi

Youths between the age of eighteen and twenty were so called at Athens. (Greek, arrived at puberty.)

Ephesian

A jovial companion; a thief; a roysterer. A pun on the verb to pheese — A — pheeze—ian. Pheeze is to flatter.

“It is thine host, thine Ephesian, calls.”

Shakespeare: Merry Wives of Windsor, iv. 5.

Ephesian Letters

Magic characters. The Ephesians were greatly addicted to magic. Magic characters were marked on the crown, cincture, and feet of Diana; and, at the preaching of Paul, many which used curious [magical] books burnt them. (Acts xix. 19.)

The Ephesian poet. Hipponax, born at Ephesus in the sixth century B.C.

Ephialtes

(4 syl.). A giant who was deprived of his left eye by Apollo, and of his right eye by Hercules.

Ephialtes

(4 syl.). The nightmare. (Greek, ephialtes, an incubus; from epihallomai, to leap upon.)

“Feverish symptoms all, with which those who are haunted by the night—hag, whom the learned call Ephialtes, are but too well acquainted.” — Sir W Scott: The Antiquary, chap. x.

Ephori

or Ephors. Spartan magistrates, five in number, annually elected from the ruling caste. They exercised control even over the kings and senate.

Epic

Father of epic poetry. Homer (about 950 B.C.), author of the Iliad and Odyssey. Celebrated epics are the Iliad, Odyssey, Æneid, Paradise Lost.

The great Puritan epic. Milton's Paradise Lost.

“Speaking of M. Doré's performances as an illustrator of the great Puritan epic.” — The Times.

Epicure

(3 syl.). A sensualist; one addicted to good eating and drinking. So called from Epicuros (q.v.).

Sir Epicure. A worldly sensualist in The Alchemist, by Ben Jonson. His surname is “Mammon.”

Epicurean

Carnal; sensual; pertaining to good eating and drinking. (See Epicuros.) T. Moore has a prose romance entitled The Epicurean.

“Epicurean cooks

Sharpen with cloyless sauce his appetite.”

Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra, ii. 1.

Epicuros

(Latin form, Epicurus.) The Greek philosopher who founded the Epicurean school. His axiom was that “happiness or enjoyment is the summum bonum of life.” His disciples corrupted his doctrine into “Good living is the object we should all seek,” or, according to the drinking song, “Who leads a good life is sure to live well.”

“Blest be the day I `scaped the wrangling crew,

From Pyrrho's [q.v.] maze and Epicurus' sty.” Beattie: Minstrel.

The Epicurus of China. Tao—tse, who commenced the search for the “elixir of life.” Several of the Chinese emperors lost their lives by drinking his “potion of immortality” (B.C. 540).

Epi—demic

is from the two Greek words epi—demos (upon the people), a disease that attacks a number of people at once, either from bad air, bad drainage, or other similar cause.

Epigram

A short pointed or antithetical poem, or any short composition happily or antithetically expressed.

Epilepsy

was called by the Romans the Comitial or Congress sickness (morbus comitialis), because the polling for the comitia centuriata was null and void if any voter was seized with epilepsy while the votes were being taken.

Epimenides

(5 syl.). A philosopher of Crete, who fell asleep in a cave when a boy, and did not wake again for fifty—seven years, when he found himself endowed with miraculous wisdom. (Pliny: Natural History.) (See Rip Van Winkle.)

“Like Epimenides, I have been sleeping in a cave; and, waking, see those whom I left children are bearded men.” — Bulwer Lytton (Lord Lytton).

Epiphany

The time of appearance, meaning the period when the star appeared to the wise men of the East. The 6th January is the Feast of the Epiphany

The word is not special to Christianity. One of the names of Zeus was Epiphanes (the manifest one), and festivals in his honour were called “Epiphanies.” (Greek, epi—phaino, to shine upon, to be manifest [in creation].)

Episemon in Greek numerals, is a sign standing for a numeral. Thus, episemon bau generally called Fau, Episemon, stands for 6, and iota—episemon for 16. There are two other symbols — viz. koppa for 90, and sampi [san—pi] for 900. The reason is this: The Greek letters were used for numerals, and were ranged in three columns of nine figures each; but 24 letters will not divide by 9, so the 3 symbols, episemon, koppa, and sampi were added to make up 3 × 9. Col. 1, from 1 to 20; col. 2, from 20 to 100; col. 3, from 100 to 1,000.

Bau and Fau are identical, the B or F being the dijamma. Thus oinos (wine) was pronounced Foinos, called in Latin Vinum, and öon (an egg) was pronounced Ofon, in Latin Ovum.

A dash under a letter multiplied it a hundredfold. Thus, = 1, but =000. For intermediate figures between full tens a mark was made above